Hey guys, it’s been a while since I posted. I’m looking for some help and advice. I have had my bearded dragon Mushu for over 2 years now but I need help with a new set up. Long story short I relocated from darwin interstate and I had to leave my scale baby behind until we got a permit. I now have that and I want to move her. I have a nice big tank ready for her but I’m starting a fresh with lighting, substrate, heat, everything. Where I live now is much cooler so i really need to get the set up right, especially with heat. What brands of lighting, heat do you recommend. What substrate are you all using ? Please help, I want her to be happy, warm and safe. Thanks in advance!!

I've had great experience with coconut fiber bricks that dissolve into what feels like a dirt. It smells great and I've had no troubles with impaction which is surprising because my beardie LOVES to gobble up substrate. It also keeps humidity at the perfect range. Now, when it comes to lighting I have found that the UVB bulb from repti-sun is very effective. I have also noticed little difference between the basking lamps of different brands though. I usually just pick up or order a zoo-med basking lamp from my local pet store, however, I've been meaning to do research on the much cheaper heat bulbs you can get from lowes or home depot. And when it comes to the cold climate I have found that if you black out the room the lizard is in and flip their sleep schedule from the day's that the heat of the day keeps them at a very comfortable temp. and when their lamps are running at night, it counteracts the cold of the nighttime. : )

Which state did you move to? Are you down in Victoria now? You can usually do pretty well with a halogen flood light that you can probably pick up at Mitre 10 or Bunnings. You can dim them as needed. A thermostat is nice to have but you can dim manually or adjust the height of the bulb as needed. If the temps drop below about 18 inside the tank at night you may want to pick up a heat projector (Arcadia makes them) or a ceramic heat emitter. For UVB I'd definitely go with a 22'' T5 from either Arcadia 12% or ZooMed ReptiSun 10. They produce excellent UVB at 30-35cm from the bulb. For substrate I'd just stick with something solid that is easy to clean and sanitize unless you have a very large tank and are looking to set up a bioactive. Ceramic tile, slate, non adhesive shelf liner are good options. Some of the lighting may be tough to find or quite expensive in Australia. I'd check Amazing Amazon in Melbourne but compare pricing to having something shipped in from the UK from maybe Swell Reptiles or similar and see which works out cheapest. Fortunately the T5 UVB lights last for quite a long time so if you order a couple at once you should be set for several years.

Thanks for you suggestions guys 🙂I’m thinking of using either slate or black shelf liner now. I have used repti sun so I will order a couple of those and a new unit. Yes it gets very cold at night so I will definitely need a night time heat lamp. Have you ever used one of those heat rocks or heat mats? I read a long time ago that they weren’t very safe. Has that changed? Probably sound stupid but what do you mean by a flood light? Is that just to give more light in the tank ? I haven’t used one before just a heat lamp and a uv light. Thanks again for your help 🙂

Heat rocks aren't recommended because the temps can get crazy high. Mats have the same issues but I believe can be bought with thermostats now. Ceramic heat bulbs are what most people are recommending for night heat lately. Amazon has many options for those. Just google floodlight, you'll likely recognize it. The floodlight would work as your basking/heat light. The common floodlight works the same as the marketed reptile heating light but is generally cheaper.

Flood light is just a wide angle bulb usually used for "flooding" a yard or parking lot with light. PAR38 halogen flood lights work well because of their wide beam and high heat output. You can usually find them at a hardware store and they take the place of a reptile specific heat lamp (you can use one of those if you prefer, that's fine).

If you use a heat mat I would use it with a thermostat to keep it from overheating if it malfunctions. Your best bet for winter heating is an overhead heat projector (Arcadia makes them) or a ceramic heat emitter. I prefer the heat projectors since they don't get so hot to the touch (A CHE can melt things it comes in contact with) but both work. I use a heat projector during the winter here when it gets -20C or more here outside and down to 10-12C in the house overnight. The heat projector can keep the tank temps up around 20-23C without a problem. https://www.arcadiareptile.com/environmental/heat-projector/

As far as the terrarium that does not need to change keep everything same if you were using tiles or vynil keep using as far as keeping the enclosure up to temp you need to figure out how warm the room is?cold side can be 80 warm side can be 90 with a basking temp of 100 + basking bulbs,flood lights halogen,and heat emitters are good also if you need a big wattage basking spot like 150 for me I rather put 2 75 it spreads the heat better.hope this helps

did you get your enclosure figured it out? whether is cold climate or warm climate the viv can stay the same you just need more heat i suggest a melamine enclosure it holds up the heat real well im talking about a good melamine not the home depot stuff that i made mine with lol something like this https://www.boamaster.com/product/4ft-h ... x-24-x-19/